Each social media site has different character limits that restrict how much you can include in each post. When you’re crafting your posts, you need to be aware of these limits and also take into account that the optimal character count can differ from the max amount of characters possible for a particular site. Below we will go through guidelines for posting length on some of the most popular social media sites.
Blog Posts
Headline Length: 8-12 words, fewer than 70 characters
By keeping your headline length under 70 characters, it optimizes your blog post for search engines. Also keep your keywords towards the beginning of the headline. If you need a longer headline but want to be able to post it to Twitter, make sure to keep it under 116 characters, since the link will take up 24 of the 140-character limit.
Blog Length: 1,600 words
The length guide for blog posts is trickier, because it depends heavily on what kind of blog you are writing. Different topics require different amounts of explanation and description, and you should make sure that you get your point across clearly even if that results in a much shorter or longer post than is considered “ideal.” 1,600-word articles result in about a 7-minute reading time, which tends to keep people interested and sharing the most.
Title Tag Length: Fewer than 70 characters
The title tag is what is shown in a search engine result and at the top of Internet browser, and it is used to describe the topic. You don’t want your title tag to get cut off prematurely, so keep it below 70 characters in length. Interestingly, Google seems to cut off according to pixel length rather than character length, which means that the letters you use and whether or not keywords are bolded will affect the outcome.
Meta Description Length: Fewer than 155 characters
The meta description is a short description of the link that shows up on the search engine result page. Again, Google determines meta description length by pixels rather than characters, but if you keep yours under 155 characters, you should be good to go.
Status Update Length: 40 characters
The maximum limit for Facebook status updates is 63,206, but the ideal character length is 40. That being said, you need to use as many characters as necessary to clearly provide context for the post.
Video Length: 30-45 seconds
If you keep your video posts relatively short, viewers are more likely to watch them completely and enjoy them rather than move on to the next post. However, this again depends on the content you are providing. Videos that are 5 minutes long or longer can work and be very popular. Videos that you post on Facebook should be compelling and engaging, and it helps for them to make sense even when muted.
Tweet length: 140-character maximum
Tweets are limited to 140 characters, but this is lessened even more if you are Retweeting, including an image, video, or other link, which take up part of the character limit. The ideal Tweet length is 100 characters without a link or 120 characters including a link. This leaves viewers enough room to add their own comment if they decide to Retweet your content word-for-word. You can also check out Twitter's guide on the subject, since it's definitely one of the more confusing sites for character limits!
Retweet Comment Length: 116 characters
Tweet with Link: 116 characters
Links greatly increase your chance of having people view and share your content on Twitter, so be sure to include them in most of your posts.
Tweet with Image/GIF/Video: 115 characters
Tweet with Link and Image/GIF/Video: 93 characters
If you find that you have more to say and can’t fit it into the strict Tweet character limit, try adding words onto the images that you include in your post.
Hashtag Length: Fewer than 11 characters
Hashtags should be small so that they can fit into other posts easily. In any given post, 1-2 hashtags are ideal, and make sure you don’t go over 3.
Video Length: 30 seconds or shorter
The maximum length for Twitter videos is 30 seconds, whether you import a video to the site or use Twitter’s own video recording function.
LinkedIn is a more professional social site, and most of the ideal character lengths are simply “under the maximum,” depending on what you do and what you need to portray.
Professional Headline Max Length: 140 characters
The professional headline is a brief description of what you do and shows up under your name.
Summary Max Length: 2,000 characters
Position Title Max Length: 100 characters
Position Description Length: Between 200 and 2,000 characters
Status Update Max Length: 600 characters
If you plan to update your Twitter profile using LinkedIn, make sure to stay under the 140-character limit for status updates.
Profile Bio Max Length: 150 characters
Caption Max Length: 2,200 characters
Keep in mind that if your Instagram caption is longer than 3 lines, the viewer has to hit “more” to see the entire post. However, it’s not necessary to keep your post under that limit, just make sure that you frontload your post so the most important information is given without having to hit “more”.
Keep the maximum limit and optimal character count in mind next time you post to your chosen social media site!
No comments:
Post a Comment